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On Account of the Gum

by Adam Rex (Author)

On Account of the Gum
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Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
cms Common Sense Media Review

On Account of the Gum is a book about how the best intentions lead to some of the worst (and funniest) ideas! Serious humor abounds in this story about one kid's hilarious misadventures with gum, and the cumulative buildup of stuff stuck in hair.

From the madcap mind of Adam Rex comes a book about the improbable, downright bizarre remedies for a problem kids have faced since the creation of gum. - Features hilarious text with unexpected turns and fun rhymes- Wacky suggestions make this prime for constant giggles and repeat reading.

Author Adam Rex has a funny, smart, and relatable style How do you get gum out of your hair--a pair of scissors? Butter? The cat? Call your aunt, she'll know what to do. She doesn't? Try the fire department! With each page turn, this situation--relatable to any family--grows stickier and more desperate. 

A wonderful blend of light wordplay, zany humor, and a timeless topic.

cms Common Sense Media Review
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$17.99

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Publishers Weekly

Snappy second-person verse ("That's the gum./ Right there./ That you got in your hair") enumerates a family's vain efforts to remove a blob of shocking pink bubblegum as Rex (Unstoppable) dreams up ever-grosser remedies for the hairy dilemma. The victim is an adorable mop-headed child who falls asleep while blowing gum bubbles in bed, and subsequently glowers as hands reach in to sprinkle and smear it away. First met with scissors and two sticks of butter, the child's curls pile high as an aunt in a golf visor contributes grass cuttings, and "Your grandpa,/ who said that your/ aunt was mistaken,/ is mostly to blame/ for the noodles and bacon." Pets (a rabbit to nibble the grass, a cat to frighten the rabbit) and even appliances follow, racking up a pile on the kid's gummy pate. Rex's digital portraits of the child employ a feathery, pastel effect, a surprisingly soft counterpoint to the frenetic action offered by comically exaggerated adults. Though the ending sails off a cliff abruptly, those who are in it for the laughs won't care. Ages 5-8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Oct.)

Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"A story of a sticky situation bursting with laughs, On Account of the Gum is a hilarious book from Adam Rex. The deadpan narrative voice in this book and the building chaos with each attempt to remove gum from the main character's hair will keep kids chuckling and asking for more. It is reminiscent of the old nursery rhyme, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, except no one gets eaten . . . and it's about gum . . . and the only old lady in it winds up stuck in the main character's hair. So maybe it isn't much like the old nursery rhyme at all. Don't chew it over. Just buy the book." -Ryan T. Higgins, bestselling author/illustrator of the Mother Bruce books and We Don't Eat Our Classmates
Adam Rex
Adam Rex is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. His other books include The True Meaning of Smekday, which was made into the hit animated movie Home; Moonday; and School's First Day of School, illustrated by Christian Robinson. He also illustrated the Brixton Brothers series, Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, Chloe and the Lion, and How This Book Was Made, all by Mac Barnett, and Chu's Day, by Neil Gaiman. He lives in Tucson, Arizona. Visit him at AdamRex.com or follow him on Twitter @MrAdamRex.

Laurie Keller is the acclaimed author-illustrator of Do Unto Otters; Arnie, the Doughnut; The Scrambled States of America; and Open Wide: Tooth School Inside, among numerous others. She grew up in Muskegon, Michigan, and always loved to draw, paint and write stories. She earned a BFA at Kendall College of Art and Design, then worked at Hallmark as a greeting card illustrator for seven-and-a-half years, until one night she got an idea for a children's book. She quit her job, moved to New York City, and soon had published her first book. She loved living in New York, but she has now returned to her home state, where she lives in a little cottage in the woods on the shore of Lake Michigan.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781452181547
Lexile Measure
560
Guided Reading Level
N
Publisher
Chronicle Books
Publication date
October 20, 2020
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV051000 - Juvenile Fiction | Imagination & Play
JUV039090 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | New Experience
Library of Congress categories
Humorous stories
Stories in rhyme
Humorous fiction
Chewing gum

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